It has recently become common to handle, store and dispense flowable dry goods, such as agricultural feed, plastic molding resins, dry chemicals, and many dry food products, in large soft containers. A typical container of this type has a capacity of approximately one ton, and dimensions of approximately four feet by four feet by four feet. These dimensions allow the containers to be transported and stored on standard pallets.
The ease, convenience, and flexibility of using such containers make them most practical and desirable to medium sized processors, for whom small fifty-pound bags of goods are burdensome and not economical. For such users, the purchase of goods in truckloads and the storage in silos is also not feasible, but such containers as are the subject herein still allow the processor to purchase goods "by the ton" as opposed to "by the pound", so that a significant bulk discount can be realized. The ability to store many of these containers in a relatively small area allows the processor to inventory many types of goods simultaneously and access each on short notice.
Additionally, these reinforced fabric bag-like containers are reusable many times, offering the processor a significant savings over disposable paper bags or Gaylord boxes, which are generally only reusable once or twice.
These containers are filled through the top, and goods are generally dispensed through openings in a side or in the bottom through a variety of methods and means. They are these methods and means of dispensing which to date have been the most troublesome aspects of prior art soft storage containers.
Some materials just do not flow as well as others and are inherently more suitable to bottom discharge containers while other materials are very fluid or hazardous and more suitable to side discharge containers.
During transporting from the vendor to the customer, and over time, some dry goods can become compacted. As a result, they cake and clump and become not readily flowable. Vibrators are sometimes employed to reduce clumping and improve flow, but this is quite burdensome and complicated and adds an additional expense.
Precise and simple control of the flow rate of materials of varying viscosities is not provided and automatic control of flow rate and the termination of discharge is not provided in present systems.
Precise control and measurement of the amount of material which has been dispensed, such as by weight, is not provided in present systems.
To date, there are no known re-usable soft containers or dispensing systems which provide a means for an individual operator to conveniently handle bulk quantities of dry goods, to move the goods freely about a warehouse, to position the goods precisely where and as needed, to dispense the goods precisely and with minimal loss, and to reseal and restore the containers.